Nazi on Trial in Bonn Refuses to Answer Charges

Accused Nazi war criminal Anton Malloth remained silent under questioning by State Prosecutor Klaus Schacht last week, refusing to answer charges against him or offer any information relative to them.

Malloth, a former SS officer, served at the Kleine Festung prison, part of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, during World War II. According to witnesses, he murdered more than 10 inmates, most of them Jews.

Malloth, 76, was wanted in West Germany after the war and in Czechoslovakia, where he was sentenced in 1948 to death in absentia for war crimes.

Malloth hid in Italy for 40 years, until he was expelled a month ago. The West German prosecution declined initially to question him on grounds of insufficient evidence, but it reversed itself under pressure of public opinion.

Malloth was confined to a Munich hospital after being brought to West Germany. Questioning began last week after doctors told the prosecutor that the suspect could undergo cross examination, although for no more than two hours a day.